Refuses to eat or even open his mouth

Hello im hoping someone can help to guide us as to how to get our axolotl to eat.
We have had him to 2 weeks now and we are yet to see him eat anything.
He is about 6inches in length and is getting thinner and is losing the furr around his gill sensors.
Ive checked water 3 times a week and all is good and within acceptable tolerances.
Ammonia is at zero
nitrate is less than 0.025
nitrate is less than 1
ph is between 6.5 - 7.0
kh is at 4
temp ranges from 18-19.5c(depending on time of day)

The tank is 90 litres
filtration is good and the flow is faced towards the top of the tank coming out of a spray bar placed 3inches under from top of water.
We have given him places to both hide inside and behind.
We dont have a light for the tank as we wanted him to get settled in his tank first.

Hes not looking stressed as his gills face backwards and tail is not bent.

Is there something we are missing on doing?

thank you.

I was sure there was a stickie or article on "my newt won't eat" and I can't find it anywhere, not even with the search.
This is all I could find, though I wouldn't necessarily resort to this yet.

Browse through the Help section or sick axie section. This is a frequent topic.

thankyou for the link. that one was also the only one i could find when i looked too.
It does howether warn not to try it with a young axolotl and im sure ours is too fragile to attempt to force feed it.
We are still searching for a answer or something along the lines of the cause of why its not eating.
if it becomes in danger of dying then we will be taking a visit to a vet.

Any chance he could be impacted from eating gravel?

Biev said:

Any chance he could be impacted from eating gravel?

Click to expand...

there is no gravel in the tank. its a sand bottom bed.

I'm asking because you've only had him for two weeks - could he have eaten gravel before you took him home?

Have you tried feeding him bloodworms? Lotls find them very hard to resist ; )

its not ended the way we had hoped.
on the evening he was swimming around and seemed to have had no change but looked ok considering he refused to eat.
tried to feed him a live worm, dangled it right in front of him for 15mins but wouldnt take it and just swam away.
So we left it in the tank with him and hoped he would take it when he was alone.
Unfortunately he didnt and tired himself out doing circles around the tank and used up all his energy, and then it was over. He stopped moving completly and his tentacles curled forward and he died as we watched him completley helpless as we couldnt do anything more to help him eat.
My girlfriend is gutted and feels like she let him down, but to be honest we did all we could.
We had rung around the local vets but none of them actually take in axolotls so we were really on our own.
Its sad but after reading so many other posts on here it seems like the creatures really are suicidal.
question is tho, Did we do anything wrong and should give up on wanting to have a axolotl or do we try again and give another one both a home and a chance.
Is there another way we could do things or are they just pot luck to keep alive.

I am sorry to hear he did not make it. Getting your first axolotl can be a lot of work. the stress of moving them into a new environment is hard on them and some of the time they don't make it.

If you do decide to take on another axolotl, they are very rewarding and social creatures to keep. Just make sure you do as much research as you can and have a tank well set up for your new friend. Cooler water is best to start them in as it will reduce stress, getting several different types of food for them is good too, you never know what they might like. Bloodworms, Red Wigglers and sinking pellets seem to be a big hit for mine.

In the first few weeks it is crucial to keep disturbance to a minimum and lighting/temperature down. Be sure to give them at least two hiding places. Keep water movement down with a sponge filter or put something in the tank to break up the hang on back filters current.

I hope you do decide to bring another axie home, I have had bad luck in the past getting them from chain pet stores. Breeders are best and can usually help you if you run into a porblem. Good luck to you!